1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to manufacturing technique for a display element that forms a light emitting element or a circuit element. In particular, it relates to a flexible substrate in which a partition wall (bank) is formed by nano-imprinting, a manufacturing method of display element that manufactures a display element, and a manufacturing apparatus of display element.
2. Related Art
A display medium that utilizes liquid crystal or organic electroluminescence (EL) as a display element is widely used. For example, in the fabrication of an organic EL element, patterning of an electrode layer or an organic compound layer is performed. Methods of performing this patterning include a method of vapor depositing the organic compound via a shadow mask and a method of applying the organic compound with an ink jet.
In a vapor deposition apparatus, in order to obtain a uniform film, it is necessary to separate to some extent a substrate from the evaporation source. As the vapor deposition apparatus itself grows in size, the period required for exhausting each film formation chamber of the vapor deposition apparatus is prolonged. Moreover, since the vapor deposition apparatus is a structure that rotates the substrate, there is a limit in the vapor deposition apparatus aiming at a large area substrate. For this reason, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,369, research and development into applying an organic compound by an ink jet is being actively promoted.
In the case of applying an organic compound with an ink jet, a partition wall (bank) is often formed so that the applied ink does not spread from a specified region. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,369, the ink is applied between a partition wall and a partition wall, but no disclosure is made regarding the fabrication of the partition wall. Generally, a partition wall is formed by a photolithography process. Specifically, the partition wall is manufactured in the following manner. That is, after coating a synthetic resin which has photosensitivity on the substrate to provide a photosensitive material layer (insulating layer), a mask that has a pattern is illuminated with exposure light, and the photosensitive material layer is exposed by the exposure light that passes the mask. Next, the partition wall is fabricated by a developing process.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,369 discloses fabricating technique for organic EL using a flexible substrate. However, this fabricating technique involves manufacturing one sheet at a time. Since producing one sheet at a time requires cost, so U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,680 provides technique to fabricate an organic EL using a roll of a flexible substrate.
However, as provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,680, when organic EL is fabricated using a roll of a flexible substrate, a reduction in manufacturing cost can be achieved, but pulling the flexible substrate between a plurality of rollers causes the tension of the flexible substrate to become uneven. The problem thus arises of the distance and angle in the flexible substrate gradually changing during transport of the flexible substrate.